The Nepal Weekly 
October 29, 2024
The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) issued a 15-day ultimatum to 49 industries that had not paid their due electricity bills against using dedicated feeders and trunk lines. The ultimatum ended on October 24.
The same day, Minister for Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation Dipak Khadka instructed NEA head Kulman Ghising that the issue should be discussed at the NEA board before action was taken against the firms, according to an officer at the ministry. In the meeting, Minister Khadka instructed that the lines not be immediately disconnected, adding that a long-term solution for the dispute should be found.
However, in the same evening, the authority disconnected power supply to 34 firms. After this, two of the firms paid their first instalment of dues on October 25, and their power was reconnected. Following the power cuts, tension re-surfaced between the government and the NEA chief Ghising. When asked why the NEA, a state agency, cut the power to the firms going against the government’s instructions, NEA spokesperson Ghosh said the government had not given a written order.
On Sunday, a group of industrialists met Prime Minister Oli and submitted a memorandum stating that the authority had disobeyed the Council of Ministers’ decision to implement the recommendations of the Electricity Tariff Dispute Resolution Commission headed by former Supreme Court justice Girish Chandra Lal.
Meanwhile, the industrialists, during their meeting with Energy Minister Khadka and Industry Minister Damodar Bhandari on Sunday, expressed their frustration over the NEA cutting off power to the industrial firms, and called for power’s restoration. As the dispute between the government and NEA chief Ghising continues, CPN (Maoist Centre) leaders have expressed their support for Ghising. While addressing the party’s protest rally in Kathmandu on Saturday, Maoist Centre leaders claimed that the government was considering taking action against Ghising for his decision to cut off power to the defaulting firms.
Shekhar Koirala, a senior leader in the ruling Nepali Congress, has also backed Ghising. While speaking at a party function on October 26, Koirala said the industrial firms should clear their dues.
Earlier, in August, the NEA cut off power to six firms that had failed to pay the tariffs for using specialised feeder and trunk lines. For days, despite a written order from the Electricity Regulatory Commission and verbal instructions from Prime Minister Oli, Ghising refused to restore power to those firms. The NEA later restored electricity but, by that time, relations between Prime Minister Oli and Ghising had deteriorated.
According to the NEA, various industries owe around Rs8.25 billion-Rs6.65 billion plus a 25 percent fine to the authority. Initially, the authority estimated that industrialists using exclusive feeders and trunk lines for energy owed almost Rs22 billion. However, this amount was adjusted based on the recommendation of the Lal commission, formed by the previous government to resolve the issue. The commission formed in January to resolve the tariff dispute over dedicated and trunk lines submitted its report to the then government led by erstwhile prime minister Dahal on May 6.
Based on the commission’s report, the Prachanda government adjusted the outstanding amount and collected Rs6.65 billion along with a 25 percent fine.
As the NEA exerts pressure on the firms to clear their outstanding dues, some have already paid, while many claim they will not do so until they receive the TOD meter data from the authority. In response, earlier this month, the NEA provided the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with detailed records of the energy supplied to the firms through dedicated feeders and trunk lines, including the TOD meter data. When the NEA cut off electricity to firms in August, CPN-UML and Maoist Centre lawmakers in the Public Accounts Committee engaged in a heated debate over the unpaid power bills.
The parliamentary committee received over 100,000 pages of documents from the NEA including logbooks, invoices on amperes, TOD meter data, and specifics of bills issued to the industries.
